Monkey Business Love Boat
by Nubiangeek63
Summary: Gopher has a very unusual encounter with an unusual creature.


Title: Monkey Business

Author:Nubiangeek

The day began just like any other. Supplies were loaded, and  
the crew members  
wandered in and out of the ship in preparation of the imminent sail.  
The embarkation will take place an hour from the present time,  
but there's a lot  
to do to get ready.  
Isaac was busy restocking the shelves, while Gopher and Julie  
went over the  
guest list, checking on special diets and accommodation.  
Captain Stubing was going over weather reports and the route  
that the ship  
would take while Doc was checking his supply of medication. He  
chuckled as he  
thought about the fact that they rarely had any cases other than  
sunburn or  
seasickness.  
One hour later, exactly on schedule, passengers began to embark.  
Everything  
was routine, working like clock work.  
Gopher was in the lobby, as usual, and was the first to see him.  
Richard Hensen  
came through the doors, and the first thing that Gopher noticed was  
that he was  
sweating profusely. Gopher didn't think anything of it. After all, it  
was warm  
outside.  
"Oh, Mr. Hensen. We have you down for Fiesta Deck 3109."  
Mr. Hensen barely mumbled his reply, as he stumbled in the  
direction of the  
elevator.  
Gopher was already on to the next passenger. He didn't see  
Hensen slumped in  
the elevator, and he couldn't hear his labored breathing. Gopher's  
mind was on the  
here and now.  
Hensen emerged from the elevator, shuffling down the hallway,  
and leaning  
heavily on the wall. A couple, passing by, began to whisper about  
him.  
"Isn't it a shame? That man has been drinking and we haven't  
even left port."  
Once inside his room, Hensen began unpacking. He tried to tell  
himself that he  
was okay, maybe just a little tired, or maybe just a cold.  
He opened the specially made carpet bag. Everything was all  
right.  
"Maybe I'll just take a nap before dinner." He thought. He laid  
down on the  
bed and didn't notice when his cabin door opened and then closed.  
Gopher, Julie, and Doc met in the dining room as usual.Everything seemed to  
be going fine. They chatted for a moment, and then went to sit down  
for dinner.  
Doc was dining with the captain tonight, and Julie and Gopher were  
going to dine  
with a passenger.  
Gopher noticed Mr. Hensen coming into the dining room. He was a  
little  
unsteady on his feet, but he did look refreshed after his nap.  
"Mr. Hensen, isn't it?" Julie asked cheerily.  
"You're at our table this evening." She indicated the table that  
she and Gopher  
were occupying.  
"Oh, Ms. McCoy, I need to speak with you." The Captain  
called.  
In the meantime, Richard Hensen sat down at the table, and  
picked up the menu.  
He and Gopher chatted about this and that. Hensen wasn't very  
talkative, but  
Gopher didn't seem to notice.  
Hensen ate very little of his dinner, and seemed to begin  
feeling worse and  
worse.  
"Are you all right, Mr. Hensen?" Gopher asked.  
"Yes, it's just a cold. I've been fighting it for a couple of  
days."  
"Maybe you should see Dr. Bricker." Gopher replied.  
"Well, maybe if it gets worse. I just need to get some rest." He  
rose from his  
seat and returned to his cabin. Gopher suddenly found himself dining  
alone.  
Thinking that something in the meal didn't agree with him, he retired  
early as well.  
The next morning, Hensen rose and was not feeling any better. He  
was  
determined to enjoy himself despite his illness. He decided that  
sitting out on deck  
in the bright sunshine was just what he needed to make him feel  
better.  
Out on deck, Gopher made his way over to Isaac.  
"Hey Goph, whadya need?"  
Gopher's stomach was still a little upset.  
"Oh, I just need a little seltzer."  
Gopher quickly changed the subject, and their attention was  
drawn to Richard  
Hensen who was stumbling across the deck. They watched as he passed  
out and  
fell to the deck.  
Immediately people started rushing over to him, including Gopher  
and Isaac.  
They took him straight to Doc's office. When they got him there, the  
man was  
unconscious.  
"Is he going to be all right?" Isaac asked.  
He saw the serious look on Doc's face, and so, he didn't think  
the man would  
be okay.  
Isaac and Gopher left Doc to his work. This was definitely notturning out to  
be a typical cruise.

At lunch, gopher and Isaac filled Julie in on what had happened  
that morning.  
When they saw Doc later, they asked about Hensen and his condition.  
"Well, I had to send a blood sample out to a friend of mine.  
I'm waiting to hear  
back."  
Just then Julie came and said, "Doc, you have two more patients  
down in your  
office." Doc could tell that it was going to be a long day.  
"Oh no, that's what I was afraid of." He said as he returned to  
his office.  
Gopher, Isaac, and Julie looked at one another with worried  
expressions on  
their faces. They knew that this could be a potentially dangerous  
situation, not to  
mention the fact that Gopher was beginning to feel sick.

"Doctor, I need you to find Coco, she's missing." Doc came over  
and wiped  
Hensen's brow with a cool cloth.  
"Just rest Mr. Hensen." Doc knew that sometimes patients  
hallucinate with very  
high fevers.  
"You don't understand. Coco is my monkey and she missing."  
Doc just smiled. That's a new one, he thought, a monkey, of all  
things.  
At dinner that night, Julie could tell that there were several  
passengers missing.  
Some were in the make shift infirmary, while others were simply  
quarantined in their  
rooms.  
Gopher was standing at the entrance to the dining room assisting  
passengers  
with their table assignments. Julie started to walk over to him when  
suddenly he  
collapsed.

Gopher woke up to find himself lying in his own bed.  
"Where. . ."  
Isaac was sitting on the edge of the bed, and he was wearing a  
mask. Isaac  
thought that this was rather ridiculous because he would have already  
been exposed  
to whatever this was.  
"It's okay, man. Boy, you'll do anything to get out of work,  
won't you?" he  
joked, but Gopher could tell that he was worried.  
"Hey, can you get that monkey out of here?" Isaac knew that  
Gopher was  
delirious because of the fever.  
"Sure man, anything you want." Isaac was just humoring him.  
When they met for lunch that day, each of them noticed how much  
it looked like  
a ghost ship.  
Doc looked haggard and tired. Caring for all of the sick  
passengers had really  
taken its toll.  
"I talked to my friend. He was puzzled. It's some type of  
viral infection."  
He knew what they would ask him next.  
"My friend is trying to come up with an antibiotic, but he's got  
nothing yet."  
Everyone was afraid to ask how he thought Gopher was doing. Doc  
answered  
anyway.  
"Gopher's holding his own, he's strong."  
In an attempt to lighten the mood, Isaac told them about what  
Gopher had  
asked earlier.  
"He wanted me to get rid of some monkey that he thought was in  
his room." He  
chuckled, but the look on Doc's face was shock.  
"Did you say a monkey? Richard Hensen mentioned something about  
losing a  
monkey."  
They all looked at one another.  
"If the monkey is the source of the infection, maybe we can make  
an antibiotic  
from his blood." Doc said.  
They immediately got up and went in search of that monkey.

Captain Stubing was feeling a lot of pressure. There was an  
epidemic happening  
on his ship. He had been making the rounds that day to all of the  
passengers  
turned patients, and he was exhausted.  
He retired to his cabin where he planned to rest for a while. He  
sat in his chair  
and leaned back and closed his eyes.  
He didn't notice when his cabin door opened, and Coco walked  
inside. She  
began rummaging through the captain's things. She finally ended up  
knocking the  
captain's small bookcase over, which brought Captain Stubing to his  
feet.  
Startled by the noise made by the captain, Coco quickly went to  
the door and  
was out before Captain Stubing could get around his desk.  
"What is going on here?"  
The door opened, and Julie walked in. She normally didn't just  
walk into the  
captain's office, but the door was ajar and she had heard him yelling.  
"Captain, are you all right?"  
"Did you see it? Did you see that monkey?" he asked."Did you see a monkey, sir?" she asked excitedly.  
"Why should I be seeing monkeys, Miss McCoy?" He asked angrily.  
Julie explained why they were looking for the monkey.  
"Well, what are you waiting for, let's get after that monkey."  
By this time, every person that was left standing on his or her  
feet were looking  
for that monkey.  
In the end, it was Julie who found Coco. She had gone back to  
her cabin to  
take a shower before changing for dinner.  
She went into the bathroom to turn on the shower, then she went  
back out to  
undress. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something staring at  
her. She let out  
a horrific scream. It was Coco, and she screamed as well.  
Julie went over to make sure that the door was locked before she  
called for a  
steward to escort Coco to Doc's office.  
Doc, again, called his friend to let him know that they had  
found the monkey.  
He, then, drew blood and began making the serum that they needed.

By this time, Richard Hensen and Gopher had slipped back into  
unconsciousness, and had not awakened for several hours.  
Doc came into Gopher's room.  
"Is that it?" Isaac asked hopefully, indicating the vial that  
Doc had in his hand.  
"Yes, I've already given it to Hensen."  
Doc quietly went over and prepared the syringe. The unconscious  
Gopher  
winced slightly as it was administered.  
"Now we have to wait." Doc announced. It was going to be a long  
night.  
Julie offered to stay so that someone would be there when he  
woke up. She  
watched him closely, and wiped the sweat from his brow.  
His fever was breaking, which was a good sign.  
She settled down in a chair with a book, but soon was fast  
asleep.  
Along toward the middle of the night, Gopher woke up. Seeing  
Julie sleeping  
there, he cleared his throat. Julie stirred.  
"Julie, can I have some water, please?" he asked hoarsely.  
Julie was so happy. She forgot all about the water and simply  
hugged him.  
"Hey, take it easy. I'm a sick man." He replied.  
Julie just smiled and swatted at him playfully.

Richard Hensen, Gopher, and the other sick passengers gradually  
got better,  
and were fine when the cruise ended.  
As it turned out, Mr. Hensen had brought Coco aboard illegally,  
and she had  
been sick. The authorities were waiting to speak to him when hedisembarked.  
As they prepared for disembarkment, Gopher, Doc, Julie and Isaac  
gathered in  
the lobby.  
"Well, this turned out to be a wild cruise." Isaac said.  
"Yeah, it certainly was far from ordinary." Julie added.  
"Are you kidding? I know I'll never forget it." Gopher said.  
They all agreed wholeheartedly.


End file.
